The Culture Show Podcast

Actress Claire Foy joins The Culture Show to talk about her latest film, “H Is for Hawk”, adapted from Helen Macdonald’s bestselling memoir. Known for performances defined by restraint and emotional precision, Foy reflects on inhabiting grief, solitude, and endurance in a story that unfolds through the training of a goshawk. “H is for Hawk” opens in Boston area theaters this Friday. Stephanie Thorassie is Executive Director of the Seal River Watershed Alliance, an Indigenous-led partnership of four First Nations working to protect the Seal River Watershed in northern Manitoba. She joins us to discuss the documentary We Are Made from the Land: Protecting the Seal River Watershed, screening this Saturday at the Peabody Essex Museum alongside the exhibition Knowing Nature: Stories of the Boreal Forest. To learn more go here.Mary Grant, President of Massachusetts College of Art and Design, joins us for our recurring segment AI: Actual Intelligence. We talk about shrinking attention spans, the impact of scrolling culture, and how practices like slow looking — drawn from art history and museums — may help restore focus, curiosity, and deeper ways of thinking.

Culture Show contributor Joyce Kulhawik joins us for Stage and Screen, with her latest picks for what to see in theaters and cinemas right now. An Emmy Award–winning arts and entertainment reporter and President of the Boston Theatre Critics Association, you can read  Kulhawik’s reviews here.We continue our Michelin Guide series with Tracy Chang, chef and owner of PAGU in Central Square. Known for deeply personal cooking that blends Japanese technique, Spanish influence, and the flavors of her Taiwanese heritage, Chang reflects on what it means for a neighborhood restaurant to receive a Michelin Bib Gourmand — and how the honor fits into a career rooted in community and care. To learn more about PAGu go here.Every year the Associates of the Boston Public Library ask: of the books that were popular one hundred years ago, which one still resonates today? On Tuesday, February 10, that question fuels the Hundred-Year Book Debate of 1926, as “The Sun Also Rises,” “The Weary Blues,”  and “Winnie-the-Pooh”  go head-to-head-to-head— with the audience deciding. Lisa Fagin Davis, Board Member and Chair of the Hundred-Year Book Award Committee for the Associates of the Boston Public Library, joins us for an overview. To learn more about the debate go here.  

Paul Salopek has spent more than a decade walking the globe on foot as part of the “Out of Eden Walk,” retracing ancient human migration routes from East Africa toward Tierra del Fuego. A two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and National Geographic Explorer, Salopek joins us from Alaska, where he’s pausing for the winter before continuing his journey through the Americas. To read all of his reporting go here.After twelve years as chief restaurant critic for “The New York Times,” Pete Wells stepped away from the role following a health reckoning brought on by the demands of professional eating. He joins us to discuss “Reset Your Appetite,” his month-long series about developing healthier habits. A new article appears each Monday this month. You can read the current series here: January 5, January 12, and  January 19.Michael Nichols, president of the Downtown Boston Alliance, joins us to talk about Winteractive, the free public art program transforming downtown Boston this winter. From giant staring eyes to surreal sea creatures, the walkable exhibition invites passersby to look up — and see the city differently. To learn more go here. 

Tracy K. Smith,  former U.S. Poet Laureate discusses her book “Fear Less: Poetry in Perilous Times” — an invitation to listen, reflect, and let poetry guide us through uncertainty. Don Gillis and Ray Flynn join The Culture Show to discuss Gillis’ new book “The Battle for Boston: How Mayor Ray Flynn and Community Organizers Fought Racism and Downtown Power Brokers.” On June 5th at 6:00 Don Gillis will be at a book event at the Roslindale Public Library. To learn more go here.Pulitzer Prize–winning historian David McCullough spent decades helping Americans see their past in human terms. A new collection, “History Matters”, gathers his essays and speeches on why history endures — edited by his daughter Dorie McCullough Lawson and longtime collaborator Mike Hill. She joins us ahead of her American Ancestors Headquarters event today at 5 p.m. To learn more go here.  

On this edition of The Culture Show, Culture Show co-hosts Jared Bowen, Callie Crossley and Edgar B. Herwick III go over the latest headlines on our arts and culture week-in-review.First up,  inaugural poet Amanda Gorman, who wrote a new poem for Renée Good — a Minneapolis poet and mother killed by a federal ICE agent — refusing to let her be reduced to a headline. Gorman’s poem turns grief into public witness, calling out power and insisting on accountability.Then Boston’s food scene is losing two very different kinds of hangouts. Time Out Market in Fenway is closing January 23, while UNO is shrinking again in Massachusetts, with locations in Dedham, Braintree, and Revere shutting down.Plus we dig into the latest James Bond casting buzz — with Callum Turner’s name in the mix as a possible next 007. What makes a convincing Bond now, and why do these rumors catch fire so fast?And from superspy shake-ups to superhero succession: we talk about the speculation that Damson Idris could play the next T’Challa in Black Panther 3. What would that kind of recasting mean for the franchise — and for the character’s legacy?Finally, Jared, Callie and Edgar share their recommendations for arts and culture events to take in. Jared’s pick: Company One Theatre’s “The Great Privatin.”  Callie is looking forward to exploring “WINTERACTIVE”  and Edgar’s heading to Scullers for John Coltrane and Miles Davis centennial shows.

In “The First Eight: A Personal History of the Pioneering Black Congressmen Who Shaped a Nation,” Jim Clyburn revisits the lives of eight Black congressmen from South Carolina who served during Reconstruction, testing the meaning of representation in the aftermath of slavery. Drawing on history and his own decades in Congress, Clyburn  reflects on their legislative ambitions, the backlash they faced, and why their brief moment in power still shapes American democracy today.Boston-based Celtic quintet Scottish Fish joins The Culture Show  with music rooted in tradition and sharpened by years of playing together. Ahead of this year’s Boston Celtic Music Festival, the group talks about their shared history, their approach to arranging fiddles and cello, and what it means to be named the Brian O’Donovan Legacy Artist at this year’s BCMF. This festival is January 15–18, 2026. To learn more go here.Whitney Scharer  is the co-founder of To Be Read (TBR), a new writing and publishing conference launching Saturday, January 17, at Lesley University in Cambridge. Co-founded with writer Sonya Larson, TBR brings writers together with agents, editors, booksellers, and publishing professionals for conversations about craft, careers, and the forces reshaping the literary world. Scharer also discusses Publishing Matchmaker, a new system designed to rethink how writers and literary agents connect by reversing the traditional submission process. Learn more here. 

Now that the Michelin Guide has put Boston on the map, we’re kicking off a new series checking in with the restaurants on that list — to see what Michelin has meant for their kitchens, their dining rooms, and the city around them. Our first stop is South Boston with chef Karen Akunowicz. Her two Italian restaurants on West Broadway — Fox & the Knife and Bar Volpe — each earned Michelin’s Bib Gourmand designation, recognizing the caliber of cooking she’s been  known for long before Michelin came to kick the tires on Boston’s  restaurant scene. Karen Akunowicz is a James Beard Award–winning chef and “Top Chef” alum. Nonprofits across Boston are confronting rising costs, shrinking support, and tough decisions about which programs can survive. Ali Noorani, the new president of the Barr Foundation, talks with us about how philanthropy is shifting, what’s at stake for arts and education organizations, and how funding priorities can reshape the cultural life of an entire region.Mahesh Daas, president of Boston Architectural College, returns for our “AI: Actual Intelligence” segment to examine how urban design can restrict who gets to fully use public space. From benches outfitted with barriers to ledges lined with studs, he breaks down how hostile architecture works — and what it reveals about a city’s values. Daas also updates us on his creative work, including his graphic novella on artificial intelligence,”I, Nobot.”

PBS’s Breaking the Deadlock drops former politicians, judges, and veteran journalists into staged constitutional crises and asks them to work from the same facts, limits, and scenarios. Moderator Aaron Tang, a UC Davis law professor, joins us to talk about what these simulations reveal about civil discourse and the power of reasoning amid deep disagreement. Their forthcoming episode, “A Matter of Life and Death,” airs on January 20, 2026. To learn more about “Breaking the Deadlock,” go here. Tony Award–winning director Diane Paulus, Artistic Director of the American Repertory Theater,  joins us to talk about “Masquerade,”  an immersive reimagining of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera.”  Set in a five-story former department store on West 57th Street, the production turns the Paris Opera House into a candlelit maze of salons, staircases, and hidden rooms, bringing audiences in masks inches from the show’s spectacle and romance. To learn more go here.In our recurring feature “AI: Actual Intelligence,” independent curator and Culture Show contributor Pedro Alonzo takes us to Los Angeles by way of two museum exhibitions, The Brick’s  Monuments and LACMA’s “Grounded.”

Damien Hoar de Galvan created one sculpture a day for an entire year, using discarded materials like scrap wood, jars, and household objects. His 365 works are now on view at the ICA, where he’s been awarded the 2025 Foster Prize. He joins us to talk about the project and why these everyday materials matter to him. The Foster Prize exhibition is on view through January 19. To learn more go here.“The Great Privation” spans two centuries to examine how Black Americans have been forced to survive systems built on taking — from labor to land to bodies. Summer L. Williams, Company One’s co-founder and Associate Artistic Director, joins us to discuss the production. “The Great Privation”  is a co-production of Company One Theatre and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, now onstage through January 31. To learn more go here.As part of Countdown to 2026, we explore Paul Revere’s Sons of Liberty Bowl, crafted in 1768 to honor a Massachusetts vote rejecting new British taxes. Engraved with the names of lawmakers who opposed those measures, it’s a key artifact of early resistance. Ethan Lasser, Chief of Curatorial Affairs and Conservation at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, joins us for an overview. To learn more about the Sons of Liberty Bowl and the MFA’s exhibitions and programming go here.

On this edition of The Culture Show, Culture Show co-hosts Jared Bowen, Callie Crossley and Edgar B. Herwick III go over the latest headlines on our arts and culture week-in-review.First up, “Heated Rivalry,”  the hockey romance that’s become an unexpected breakout hit. What began as a niche sports drama has grown into a word-of-mouth phenomenon, drawing praise for its explicit intimacy, emotional depth, and its nuanced take on masculinity, fame, and desire inside the high-pressure world of professional sports.Next, BTS is reuniting after completing South Korea’s mandatory military service. With all seven members back together for the first time in years, the group’s return marks a major moment not just for fans, but for the global pop industry — reigniting questions about longevity, fandom, and the scale of their cultural influence.And the British Museum  is now hiring a specialist to help recover antiquities stolen from its own collection. The move follows a major internal security scandal and raises larger questions about how museums track objects once they disappear, and what it takes to recover cultural history in a global art market.Then we turn to Jim Beam. After more than two centuries as a pillar of Kentucky bourbon, the company is halting production at its flagship distillery amid changing consumer habits and ballooning stockpiles — a signal of broader shifts in the spirits industry.Finally, Jared, Callie and Edgar share their recommendations for arts and culture events to take in. Jared’s pick: the play “Is This a Room,” Presented by Apollinaire Theatre Company, Chelsea Theatre Works, 189 Winnisimmet St., Chelsea. Callie is looking forward to watching “Can This Love Be Translated?”, a new K-drama on Netflix, and Edgar is gearing up to watch the NFL Playoffs.  

As part of our recurring segment AI: Actual Intelligence, Imari Paris Jeffries, President and CEO of Embrace Boston and a co-chair of Everyone 250 joins us.. Jeffries shared original, human-centered insights on civic memory, public history, and the work of shaping a more inclusive narrative as Massachusetts approaches its 250th anniversary.Photographer Amani Willett joins us to discuss his latest book, “Invisible Sun.” His most intimate project to date, Willett discusses  how the book confronts his childhood medical trauma and explores what it means to carry personal history in the body. Willett is an Associate Professor of Photography at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. To learn more about “Invisible Sun” go here.We wrap up the show with cocktail authority Jackson Cannon, Beverage Director for ES Hospitality and a longtime force behind Boston’s modern cocktail revival. Cannon broke down the enduring appeal of the martini — from dry to dirty to Vesper — and previewed his upcoming Martini 2.0 cocktail class, a deep dive into the technique, history, and style behind one of America’s most iconic drinks. To learn more about this January 24th event go here.

Joyce Kulhawik joins The Culture Show with highlights from the annual voting of the Boston Society of Film Critics, following their marathon session at the Coolidge Corner Theatre, which could be an indicator of this year’s Oscar contenders. The Boston Society of Film Critics awards crowned Sinners, directed by Ryan Coogler, as Best Picture, alongside honors for standout performances, documentaries, animation, and the repertory screenings that kept Boston’s movie houses buzzing. Joyce Kulhawik is a Culture Show contributor, an Emmy-award winning arts and entertainment reporter and President of the Boston Theatre Critics Association. You can find her reviews at Joyce’s Choices.Salem’s inaugural Poet Laureate, J.D. Scrimgeour, discusses writing about the “other Salem” — the daily, lived-in city beyond witch-trial lore and Halloween tourism. As part of the Salem 400+ celebrations, he talks about  his new book “Poet in High Street Park: Prose & Poetry for Modern Salem.”  On January 11, he’ll be at the Peabody Essex Museum for a PEM Reads event, reading from and discussing his new book as part of the official Salem 400+ celebrations. To learn more go here.Boston-based sculptor Alison Croney Moses is one of four artists featured in this year’s Foster Prize exhibition at Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, on view through January 19. She joins us to talk about her work, receiving the 2025 James and Audrey Foster Prize, and what it takes to carve out a life and career as an artist in Boston. To learn more about the James and Audrey Foster Prize and exhibition go here. 

Bestselling author George Saunders joins The Culture Show to talk about his forthcoming novel “Vigil.”  Set over a single night, the book follows Jill “Doll” Blaine, a long-deceased guardian figure who keeps watch over a dying oil executive, returning Saunders to the moral and metaphysical terrain familiar from “Lincoln in the Bardo.”  “Vigil” is out January 27, with a Harvard Book Store event on January 29 at the Back Bay Events Center; to learn more go here.“Fight for America!” is a large-scale interactive simulation that revisits the events of January 6, 2021. Produced by the american vicarious, the project takes the form of a live tabletop “megagame,” placing participants into opposing roles to examine how democratic norms can fracture under pressure. Christopher McElroen, the Founding Artistic Director of the american vicarious and the co-creator, writer, and director of “Fight for America!” joins us for an overview.  “Fight for America!” is scheduled for presentations in Boston, spring 2026; to learn more go here.Matthew Shifrin, founder and CEO of Bricks for the Blind, returns for the recurring feature AI: Actual Intelligence. Best known for translating LEGO’s visual instructions into accessible text for people with vision loss, Shifrin discussed his latest work focused on making music more accessible for deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences.

Samuel Barber’s Vanessa is a psychologically charged American opera centered on denial, obsession, and self-deception. Premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in 1958, the work earned composer Samuel Barber the Pulitzer Prize for Music. The Boston Symphony Orchestra, in collaboration with Boston Lyric Opera, will be performing Vanessa for the first time in BSO history, conducted by Andris Nelsons, with mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey appearing as Erika. Tony Fogg, BSO’s  Vice President of Artistic Planning, and Samantha Hankey join us for an overview. “Vanessa” will be performed January 8 and January 10 at Symphony Hall. To learn more go here.Boston comedian and actor Steve Sweeney joins The Culture Show to talk about his new film “Townie,” which is drawn directly from his Charlestown upbringing. Known for comedy rooted in working-class Catholic culture, Sweeney uses the neighborhood as a lens on loyalty, memory, and what it means to stay put as a place — and a city — changes. You can catch a screening of “Townie,” on January 16 at The Cut in Gloucester. To learn more go here.Grammy-winning soprano Jane Eaglen returns for the Culture Show’s recurring feature AI: Actual Intelligence. A veteran of the world’s major opera stages, Eaglen is on the faculty at New England Conservatory and serves as President of the Boston Wagner Society, bringing a performer’s perspective to questions of tradition, audience, and the future of classical music.

Pulitzer Prize–winning author Stephen Greenblatt joins The Culture Show, to talk about his latest book, “Dark Renaissance:The Dangerous Times and Fatal Genius of Shakespeare’s Greatest Rival.”  It traces the meteoric rise and violent end of Christopher Marlowe—playwright, poet, spy, and heretic—whose genius endures today.  From there, Harvard historian and New Yorker staff writer Jill Lepore  discusses her new book, “We the People." Published on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding—the anniversary, too, of the first state constitutions—"We the People" offers a wholly new history of the Constitution.Finally writer Nicholas Boggs joins The Culture Show to talk about his book, “Baldwin: A Love Story.” It's the first major biography of James Baldwin in three decades, revealing how the writer’s personal relationships shaped his life and work. 

Dennis Lehane, known for writing literary crime novels such as “Mystic River,” “Gone, Baby, Gone,” and “Shutter Island,” joins The Culture Show to talk about his latest collaboration with Apple TV+, the  crime series “Smoke.”  Created by Dennis Lehane, the nine-episode drama – inspired by true events – follows an arson investigator who teams up with a police detective to stop two serial arsonists. Lehane also serves as writer and executive producer. From there it’s “My First Ex-Husband,” an adaptation of true stories by Joy Behar, writer, comedienne and co-host of The View.  The play explores the messy, hilarious truths of love, sex, and relationships.  Joy Behar joins The Culture Show to talk about creating this work.Finally, bestselling author Hank Phillippi Ryan joins The Culture Show to talk about her latest thriller, “All This Could Be Yours,”  The book centers on debut sensation Tessa Calloway. She’s on a whirlwind book tour for her instant bestseller, But there's a chilling problem—she soon discovers she is being stalked by someone who's obsessed not only with sabotaging her career, but also with destroying her perfect family back home. 

Author Gish Jen discusses her novel, “Bad Bad Girl.” In this witty and deeply personal work, Jen blends fiction and autobiography to imagine her mother’s life and explore the distance between them — uncovering how storytelling can bridge what family history leaves unsaid. From there we’re joined by Sam Kissajukian. In 2021 the Aussie comedian quit stand-up, rented an abandoned cake factory, and became a painter. Over the course of what turned out to be a six-month manic episode, he created three hundred large-scale paintings, unknowingly documenting his mental state through the process. He turned this experience into his one-man show “300 Paintings.”Finally, pastry chef and author Gesine Bullock-Prado talks about her cookbook “My Harvest Kitchen: 100+ Recipes to Savor the Seasons.”  From Hollywood lawyer to Vermont baker, she shares how cooking with what’s close at hand — and in season — can feed both body and spirit. 

James Sullivan,  a journalist, author and longtime contributor to the Boston Globe, joins The Culture Show to talk about his book Which Side Are You On?: 20th Century American History in 100 Protest Songs.From there Aisha Muharrar joins The Culture Show to talk about her debut novel “Loved One.” She’s an Emmy Award–winning writer and producer who has worked on “Hacks,” “Parks” and “Recreation,” and “The Good Place.”Finally,  Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Richard Russo joins The Culture Show, to talk about his new book "Life and Art.”  It’s a COVID-era meditation on his  childhood, adulthood and what it means to be an artist.

First up, Sally Mann. In 2015 renowned photographer Sally Mann published her memoir “Hold Still,” an inquiry into family history, the American South and the nature of creativity. Now, comes her book  “Art Work: On the Creative Life.”  It is laugh-out-loud funny. It’s irreverent. And it’s refreshingly practical as she guides the reader through her experience and process of being an artist. From there Jeremy Sewall, Chef and Owner of Row 34, shares recipes and stories from his new  “Everyday Chef: Simple Dishes for Family and Friends,” which illustrates how restaurant expertise can translate into simple, satisfying meals at home.Finally, Richard Smith. For more than a quarter century he embodied Henry David Thoreau—donning the waistcoat and straw hat, walking the paths of Concord, and giving voice to one of New England’s most enduring thinkers. Now, after 26 years of living deliberately in another man’s shoes, Smith has stepped  away from the role. Closing a chapter that made Thoreau’s world vividly real for thousands who visited Walden Pond.

Robert Reich served  in three presidential administrations, including as Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton. As a professor he has been the ultimate explainer about rising inequality. As a public intellectual he pulls no punches–calling out the bullies:  anyone and any institution that threatens democracy and human decency.  It’s a life’s work on which he reflects in his book “Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America.”  He joins The Culture Show to talk about it. From there Marianne Leone is an actress, author, and screenwriter. She joins The Culture Show to talk about her novel “Christina The Astonishing," a coming-of-age story about Christina Falcone and her desire to break free from Catholic school nuns, Italian mothers, and small-town Massachusetts. Finally, Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated actor Sam Waterston joins The Culture Show to talk about the role that launched his career, Nick Caraway in the 1974 film adaptation of “The Great Gatsby.”